News Release: W3C Issues Mobile Web Best Practices as a Candidate Recommendation

Today, W3C reached an important milestone toward its mission of  
making it as easy to use the Web on a mobile device as on a desktop  
computer. Mobile Web Best Practices are now in Candidate  
Recommendation, and W3C is inviting developers to give them a test-run.

"There are many devices, but one Web," said Daniel Appelquist, chair  
of the Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group. "Practical guidelines  
on how to create content once that can be delivered to the plethora  
of devices saves developers and organizations time and money, and has  
the added benefit of not breaking the Web. "

For more information, or to reach companies and organizations which  
have provided testimonials supporting Mobile Web Best Practices,  
please contact Janet Daly, +1 617 253 5884, <janet@w3.org> or the W3C  
Communications Team representative in your region.


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W3C Issues Mobile Web Best Practices as Candidate Recommendation

Industry Leaders Encourage Developers to test Guidelines for "One  
Web" of Content

Web Resources

This press release
     In English: http://www.w3.org/2006/06/mwbp-pressrelease.html.en
     In French: http://www.w3.org/2006/06/mwbp-pressrelease.html.fr
     In Japanese: http://www.w3.org/2006/06/mwbp-pressrelease.html.ja

Testimonials from AOL, dotMobi, France Telecom, ICRA, Microsoft  
Corporation, Nokia Corporation, Opera Software, T-Online, Vodafone  
and Volantis
     http://www.w3.org/2006/06/mwbp-testimonial

W3C's Mobile Web Best Practices
     http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/CR-mobile-bp-20060627/


http://www.w3.org/ -- 27 June 2006 -- Today, W3C reached an important  
milestone toward its mission of making it as easy to use the Web on a  
mobile device as on a desktop computer. W3C has published Mobile Web  
Best Practices a Candidate Recommendation, an indication of broad  
consensus on the technical content of the document.

W3C now invites implementation experience from the community.  
Industry leaders are declaring their support for the guidelines,  
which explain how to develop Web sites that work on mobile devices.  
"There are many devices, but one Web," said Daniel Appelquist, chair  
of the Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group. "Practical guidelines  
on how to create content once that can be delivered to the plethora  
of devices saves developers and organizations time and money, and has  
the added benefit of not breaking the Web. "

W3C Distills Principles and Techniques for Efficient Delivery of Web  
Content

"Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0" condenses the experience of many  
mobile Web stakeholders into practical advice on creating content  
that will work well on mobile devices. Authors and other content  
producers can find instructions on how to create content that makes  
browsing convenient on mobile devices and avoids known pitfalls, such  
as pop-ups and page-scrolling.

Guidelines Checker and Techniques Wiki Available to Mobile Web  
Developers

W3C invites the designers of Web sites and content management systems  
to read the guidelines, make implementations, and test their results  
with the alpha version of a guidelines checker

In order to build a strong community of mobile Web developers, W3C  
has also launched a wiki to collect observations and suggestions on  
techniques and implementation experience of Mobile Web Best Practices  
1.0.

Mobile Web Best Practices Enjoys Broad Industry and Consumer Support

"Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0" was developed by a Working Group that  
included representatives from 30 organizations: Afilias Limited,  
America Online, Inc. (AOL), ANEC European Association for the Co- 
ordination of Consumer Representation in Standardisation, Argo  
Interactive Ltd, AT&T, Electronics and Telecommunications Research  
Institute (ETRI), elmundo.es, Ericsson, France Telecom, Fundación  
CTIC (Centro Tecnológico para el Desarrollo en Asturias de las  
Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación), Fundación ONCE, Go  
Daddy.com, Google, Inc., Indus Net Technologies, International  
Webmasters Association / HTML Writers Guild (IWA-HWG), Internet  
Content Rating Association, Microsoft Corporation, dotMobi (mTLD Top  
Level Domain, Ltd.), Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Openwave Systems Inc., Opera  
Software, Segala, Sevenval AG, T-Online International AG, The Boeing  
Company, TIM Italia SpA, University of Helsinki, Vodafone and  
Volantis Systems Ltd.

This work is part of the W3C Mobile Web Initiative, which is  
supported by nineteen MWI Sponsors, including key players in the  
mobile production chain: Afilias, Argogroup, Bango.net, dotMobi,  
Drutt Corporation, Ericsson, France Telecom, HP, Jataayu Software,  
MobileAware, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Opera Software, TIM Italia,  
RuleSpace, Segala, Sevenval, Vodafone, and Volantis.

Testimonials

AOL | dotMobi | France Telecom | ICRA | Microsoft Corporation | Nokia  
Corporation |  Opera Software | T-Online | Vodafone | Volantis

      AOL is very pleased that the W3C has released these Mobile Web  
Best Practices Guidelines as a Candidate Recommendation. These  
guidelines are an important first step in improving the user  
experience of the Web from mobile devices. As a major provider of  
content and services on the Web, AOL intends to use these guidelines  
in our diverse portfolio of Web properties and services. We are  
looking forward to extending more of our Web content to mobile  
devices, and welcome W3C's timely initiatives in the mobile arena.
     -- Barry Appelman Senior Vice-President and Chief Mobile and Web  
Strategist, AOL

     dotMobi is proud to support the W3C. We have been a long- 
standing supporter and contributor to W3C's Mobile Web initiative,  
and have even formalized this open and standards-based approach into  
our developer guides. We are thrilled to see that these guidelines  
are available to all developers and content providers. We believe W3C  
and their efforts bring closer a future where everyone can easily  
access and use the internet with only a mobile phone.
     -- Neil Edwards, CEO, dotMobi, (mTLD, Top Level Domain, Ltd.) -  
the ICANN-appointed registry for the .mobi domain

     As an Integrated Operator that aims to provide consistent user  
experience across multiple networks and terminal devices, the France  
Telecom Group welcomes the release of the W3C Candidate  
Recommendation for Mobile Web Best Practices. As these guidelines  
facilitate the process of developing and delivering content that  
would be more accessible from mobile and other portable devices, they  
represent an important step towards creating new service  
opportunities and enabling more users to take advantage of the Web.
     -- Christian Jacquenet, Director of Standardization – France  
Telecom

     ICRA has always been a champion of Best Practice on the  
Web,particularly with respect to the protection of minors. The  
developmentof the these Best Practices is clearly a step forward on  
what, forchildren, is the most essential gadget in the world – their  
mobilephone. ICRA is proud to have contributed to this effort  
andcongratulates W3C on today’s publication. It will prove highly  
useful aswe continue to develop our work for mobile.
     -- Phil Archer, CTO, ICRA

     Microsoft Corp. is pleased to see the Mobile Web Best Practices  
become a W3C Candidate Recommendation. Committed to working with the  
industry to ensure the highest standards of mobile web software and  
services, Microsoft will continue its support of Mobile Web Best  
Practices by implementing the W3C Recommendation within its mobile  
services, and through joint ventures such as the Mobile Top Level  
Domain (".mobi").
     -- Aron Holzman, Program Manager, Microsoft Corp.

     Nokia believes the use of the Web via mobile browsers will be  
the next big step towards making information and content available  
globally to everybody, including billions of people for whom their  
mobile phone will be their first and only means of Internet access.  
To achieve this it is important to provide the Web community with the  
right set of tools to make it easier to deliver information and  
content in mobile-friendly way. Mobile Web Best Practices Candidate  
Recommendation is an important step towards this goal. Nokia  
congratulates W3C for this achievement.
     -- Timo Ali-Vehmas, Vice President, Standardization and Industry  
Relations, Nokia Corporation

     Opera Software welcomes the publication of Best Practices for  
the Mobile Web as a Candidate Recommendation. The guidance it  
provides to authors will nicely complement the work of browser makers  
like Opera in bringing the full Web to anyone anywhere on any device.  
With the development of browsers like Opera mini making the mobile  
Web more accessible to more people than ever before, this publication  
is indeed timely.While the best mobile browsers can provide a great  
internet experience for any content, it is more efficient and more  
effective when content has been designed to take account of basic  
design requirements, and these guidelines will help authors to ensure  
that their content works as well as possible on the entire internet.  
We look forward both to our own work implementing the Best Practices  
in our Web content, and to a large range of authors using them to  
improve the entire Web.
    -- Charles McCathieNevile, Chief Standards Officer, Opera  
Software ASA.

     T-Online, the ISP of Deutsche Telekom AG, T-Com, is pleased to  
be part of the Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group and the Mobile  
Web Initiative.As one of the leading Internet Service Providers on  
the European Internet market, T-Online sees a growing need to harness  
the web's full potential by making it truly mobile. The Mobile Web  
Best Practices make it easier to answer our customers demand for a  
greater ability to access the same information both from desktop  
computers and web capable mobile devices with equal comfort. The  
Mobile Web Best Practices represent a major step forward in the  
continuing development of the World Wide Web.
     -- Bernd Beimdick, AC Representative, Deutsche Telekom AG, T-Com

     Vodafone is pleased to have participated in the development of  
the Mobile Web Best Practices. We have seen this development through  
to Candidate Recommendation stage with our chairmanship of the Mobile  
Web Best Practices working group and our sponsorship of the W3C  
Mobile Web Initiative. Vodafone believes these best practices will  
play an important role in the growth of the Mobile Web in concert  
with other standards and industry activity, such as the Mobile Top  
Level Domain.
     -- Daniel Appelquist, Senior Technology Strategist, Vodafone Group

     Volantis applauds the initiatives by the W3C to document and  
standardise best practices in content mobilisation. Volantis is a  
leading advocate driving the industry to reduce the complexities for  
integrating the Internet & mobile communications in order to maximise  
the content quality experience for any device.
     -- Rhys Lewis, Chief Scientist at Volantis and Chair of the W3C  
Device Independence Working Group


Contact Americas, Australia --
     Janet Daly, <janet@w3.org>, +1.617.253.5884 or +1.617.253.2613
Contact Europe, Africa and the Middle East --
     Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33.492.38.75.94
Contact Asia --
     Yasuyuki Hirakawa <chibao@w3.org>, +81.466.49.1170


About the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C]

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium  
where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work  
together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission  
through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to  
ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 400 organizations are  
Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer  
Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the  
USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics  
(ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan, and has  
additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http:// 
www.w3.org/

Received on Tuesday, 27 June 2006 13:39:50 UTC